Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the issue of a dispute between the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and the County and City Management Association, CCMA, which represents the local authorities throughout the country. The dispute centres on a funding shortfall of €1.2 million for veterinary inspections of smaller slaughterhouses carried out by the local authority vets, who also work with the local enterprise offices to develop new businesses as well as overseeing the regulatory standards. The current contract runs out on 30 November, with the CCMA indicating that it will not continue to provide these services because of a shortfall in funding. This issue is quite close to me in my local village, which is home to the Rawles abattoir, which services nearly all the butchers throughout the entire county. We have Uncle Bok, which provides Biltong for the entire southern African market in Ireland, and Herterich's artisan butchers, which are renowned for their quality throughout the country. These are small local enterprises in our community. They are not the Goodmans or the large supermarket chains. This issue needs to be resolved immediately to give certainty to these businesses prior to Christmas and to keep the veterinary service within our local authorities in order that they can work with the local enterprise offices to continue to provide more jobs.

Finally, I support Senator Wall in his comments. Collectively, we need to come together to recognise the men of Jadotville.